The world’s first digital camera

In 1975, Kodak had the opportunity to be the world leader in digital photography. Steve Sasson, one of their visionary researchers, cobbled together the above contraption which took 23 seconds to record a 100 line image onto cassette tape. You could then play these images back on a TV, thanks to another clunky-looking device. And Kodak weren’t interested. They just made film for cameras. And everything looked peachy in the market at that time.

The story’s a bit different these days with Kodak struggling to find their place in a world that doesn’t use film any more. And it serves them right.